§ 32. Mr. Hydeasked the Under-Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations what request he has made to the Government of Eire for the extradition under the existing treaty arrangements of Corporal Frank Skuse, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, who disappeared from camp at Blandford, Dorset, the night before it was attacked by members of the Irish Republican Army last February, and is now serving a six-months' sentence of imprisonment in Mountjoy Prison, Dublin, under the name of Paul Murphy, for unlawful possession of arms; and what reply he has received.
§ Mr. AlportThere is no treaty of extradition between the Government of the United Kingdom and the Government of the Irish Republic. General arrangements for the reciprocal enforcement of warrants in criminal cases are matters for the Home Secretary. But I understand that the application of these arrangements in particular cases is entirely a matter for the prosecuting authorities concerned.
§ Mr. HydeDoes not my hon. Friend agree that this case is a test of the good faith of the Eire Government? If they are as anxious as they say they are to stop attacks on British lives and property, here and in Northern Ireland, they could hand this man over at the 1492 expiration of his sentence and not pretend that the offence for which he is wanted here is purely political.
§ Mr. AlportThat is a matter for the Government of the Irish Republic, but, as I have said, applications with regard to any action in particular cases is entirely a matter for the prosecuting authority concerned, that is, for the police authorities who are concerned in this particular case.